Weather creates perfect storm for area drivers

Published 3:43 pm, Saturday, December 17, 2016

Icy conditions and hilly terrain caused a number of crashes Friday and Saturday, including thise one at the corner of Third and Piasa streets in Alton on Saturday.

Icy conditions and hilly terrain caused a number of crashes Friday and Saturday, including thise one at the corner of Third and Piasa streets in Alton on Saturday.

Weather creates perfect storm for area drivers

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ALTON — Precipitation that was not quite snow and temperatures that were just below freezing created a sort of perfect storm, pun intended, for area drivers, city personnel and first responders Friday.

A light rain in the Riverbend started to freeze on city streets and state highways around rush hour, causing numerous crashes in and around the area and leaving plenty more people stranded as they waited for conditions to improve. By 6 a.m. Saturday, Illinois State Police District 11 responded to 519 incidents, more than half of which were minor crashes.

In Alton, Public Works Director Bob Barnhart said they called salt truck drivers out around 5 p.m. to get started salting the roads. He said the rain mixed with freezing temperatures was “two ingredients for disaster.

“When we get down to freezing numbers, even salt or ice abatement measures don’t work,” Barnhart said.

Numerous Facebook users posted updates on the slick conditions near where they live, some saying salt trucks hadn’t been down their streets as of late Friday. One video posted by Alton resident Dylan Sherer showed an out-of-control car sliding down State Street, striking a parked car and slamming into a light post.

Barnhart said the city tried to get out ahead of the inclement weather but said conflicting forecasts — one minute calling for snow, the next for rain, with temperatures hovering right around the freezing point — left the city at the mercy of mother nature.

“As soon as we feel we need to get out, we get them out immediately,” Barnhart said, noting that all the trucks were in service Friday night. Alton’s hilly terrain, along with the fact that his department has hundreds of miles of city streets to try to get to, didn’t help, he said.

“It’s very difficult to be everywhere at the same time,” Barnhart said. “We always keep safety and best interest of citizens foremost.”

Alton Fire Department Battalion Chief Brad Sweetman said his department didn’t have any weather-related calls, just medical calls, but that the conditions still affected their ability to respond.

“It took us a little bit to get there, but that was about the extent of it,” Sweetman said.

That includes a call for a diabetic man who needed to get to the hospital. Fire trucks and ambulances couldn’t get down the icy street, so AFD Deputy Chief Mark Harris, who wasn’t working Friday night, used his personal, four-wheel-drive vehicle to get to the man’s house, which is about four houses down from Harris’, he said.

Once he got to the man and got him out of his house, Harris said he didn’t encounter issues getting the man to Alton Memorial Hospital.

“I was able to get him there in reasonable time,” Harris said, noting that the man was alright after treatment. Harris commended the work of Barnhart’s department to clear the roads as quickly as possible.

Alton Fire Chief Bernie Sebold said Saturday that he’s touched base with his battalion chiefs and ensured they were taking “extra protective measures” when responding to calls Saturday. That includes driving at a slower rate of speed, being aware of other drivers who might not be in control of their vehicles and paying attention to their footing when walking from their trucks to homes or businesses.

“It does create a hazardous condition that they have to be more aware of, but we still have to be able to respond to emergencies,” Sebold said. “It just makes it a little harder for us to get there.”

Sebold wasn’t working Saturday but said he would be sitting near a radio with conditions expected to be iffy again Saturday evening.

Barnhart said he sent some drivers home at 6 a.m. Saturday and had other staff come in at 10 a.m. to start preparing for Saturday night. Additional forces were called in at noon, Barnhart said, adding that he may add more trucks to some routes depending on how the weather progresses.